Familiar of Zero - Animtriex Chronicles
by hawkeyeriku
Summary: During his duel with Guiche, Saito Hiraga stumbles upon a piece of technology from a far-away planet that ended up attaching itself to his wrist, summoning a powerful, human-sized, sentient combat robot known as an Animtriex to his aid. Now, with more of these beings scattered over Halkeginia and popping up everywhere, what does the future have in store for Saito and his Friends?
1. Chapter 01: Blaze Falco

Well, then. This story is a collaboration between me and brave kid, the ideas are all his, I merely do the writing while adding my own two cents.

I don't have much to say except that this has been in development for quite some time and both brave kid and I hope you'll enjoy it, so without further ado, get to reading.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the cover image but I hope I have premission to use it.

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Chapter 01: Blaze Falco.

As he fell onto the ground, Saito Hiraga, a young Japanese boy with black hair and blue eyes dressed in a blue hooded jacket and black pants couldn't help but curse himself and his bad luck. He had just a few moments ago exposed Guiche de Gramont, a blond pretty boy in the Tristain Academy of Magic, and his two timing to the guy's girlfriend and, needless to say, the two timer had received a well-deserved punishment in the form of the most powerful bitch slap Saito had ever seen delivered to his cheek, which even smoked for a few seconds after the girl that slapped him ran off.

However, things had not ended there, much to Saito's annoyance he had been challenged by the blond mage to a duel, which the young noble claimed was necessary to recover his honor, and the Japanese boy had accepted, not knowing how much trouble and pain such a thing would bring him.

And so here he was, getting his ass handed to him by one of Guiche's creations, known as Valkyries, and he was certainly not happy about it. He tried to get up but he fell on his back once more and grunted in pain.

"Well then, commoner." Guiche said with a hint of amusement. "As much as seeing you in the ground were you belong I am no sadist." The blond mage smiled. "Tell you what. If you give up and beg for forgiveness on your knees I'll consider our debt paid."

"Listen to him, you can't win!" A voice shouted before Saito could reply. The voice belonged to Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière, long name, yeah. She was the reason Saito was in this mess and we're not referring to the duel, that was his fault alone, but the fact the young Japanese was no longer on planet Earth. He had been summoned to the world he was on due to an ancient magical ritual that served to grant the mage that casted it a magical partner suited to their needs.

Obviously, due to how he had been yelled at just when he arrived and Louise being quite the brat, she and Saito hadn't really started well of, in fact their first conversation ended with her blowing the poor fellow up with a failed silence spell, after which she proceeded to undress in front of him and get into her nightgown before ordering him to do her laundry.

Certainly not the best of beginnings, but that mattered little now. Because after shouting that the girl ran to his side with a worried look on her face and tried to help him stand.

"Admit your loss and apologize." She told him again. "You can't win, you're a commoner and he's a mage."

"What your mistress says is quite true, you know?" Guiche interjected with a confident smile. "You have no hope of winning but how about I force the choice?" He took out his Rose-wand, the reason behind it being a rose escaped everyone present but no one had ever dared, or cared, to question the blond about it, and made a single motion with it. A rose petal fell in front of Saito and transformed into a long sword upon touching the ground. "Take that and we continue fighting, if you do not want to, give up and apologize on your knees until I'm satisfied. Those are your options."

Saito sat there for a moment, he had never used a sword in his life but using it perhaps he'd be able to beat the Golem the young mage used against him. The boy tried to stand and his hands gripped a nearby rock as he did so.

Everyone gave surprised gasps as both the rock he had accidentally touched and his left hand glowed brightly with white light, blinding almost everyone present. Saito wasn't blinded so he saw how the rock transformed into some sort of liquid that then went to his left wrist and attached itself there, solidifying and taking the form of an oversized metallic blue watch with black lining. There seemed to be a screen of some sort much like a digital watch and a section of it was pulsing with red light.

"What the hell…?" Almost as if in trance, Saito touched the red part after the flash of light had subsided only for another one to take its place, this one of red light.

"So you're the one that picked me up, huh?" A male voice called from within the light. "Boy, you look wasted. What the hell happened to you?"

Everyone looked in awe as the light died down, revealing what it hid. I was a creature with a black body covered in crimson armor lined with gold. It had silver claws and bird talons instead of hands and feet, its head resembled that of a bird although it was red with a golden beak, on his back were two majestic scarlet wings with feathers made out of the same metal that covered its body.

"What in the world is that?!" Louise asked aloud, she certainly wasn't expecting this to happen.

"Me?" The creature pointed one of his fingers towards his face. "Name's Blaze Falco, I'm here to kick ass and drink tea… and I'm all out of tea." He then turned, ignoring Guiche for the time being. "Anyway, are you really the guy that picked me up? Come on, you look as weak as they get." Saito glared at the being in front of him and stood with visible effort. "That's better."

"What are you?" The Japanese boy asked, his face revealing he had absolutely no idea what in the world was going on despite the fact that he had felt the need to prove he wasn't weak to this creature. "How did you get here?"

"Good questions, but I'll answer them later because I don't feel like it now." He replied and his beak curved into a smirk as he said it. "Now, care to tell good old Blaze Falco what the devil is going on here?"

No one replied, they were too stunned to comment, that was until Guiche made one of the biggest mistakes of his life, of course.

"What in the nine circles of hell is that Golem?" Guiche finally reacted to the presence in front of him, his brain unable to find any other explanation to the phenomenon that had occurred before his very eyes than that it was some sort of Golem created with magic, poor fellow didn't know how badly he was messing up.

"What?" Falco's voice carried a very cold threat despite his command over fire. "Did you just call me a Golem?" The blond mage, out of pure survival instinct and afraid of the consequences of his words, did his best to deny it but his pleas fell on deaf ears. "You called me a Golem, didn't you?"

Fire started erupting from Blaze's body and concentrating on his claws and talons as he turned ever so slowly at Guiche, the bird-like creature was hovering a few inches from the ground now and slowly approaching the blond mage whose expression looked more terrified by the second.

"V-Va-Valkyries!" The poor boy cried out as he wildly swung his wand, creating more of the female Golems. "P-Protect me!"

"I'm a goddamn Animtriex, you little piece of crap!" The armored creature shouted at the top of his artificial lungs as he charged towards the wall of female warriors, slashing them apart with his fire covered claws and delivering an occasional shredding kick to any that escaped him. "Never forget that! And never forget what I can do. Flame Strike!"

Blaze slashed with both his claws at the Valkyries in front of him with such speed and force that he left a flaming X letter on the air for a few seconds, utterly destroying any opposition left between him and his blond haired target.

"That… you can't… no!" Guiche wasn't making any sense as he shook his head in denial while the Animtriex, as he called himself, kept coming closer. His desperate mind hatched a last resort plan and he put it into action.

"Now then." Falco said as he stood in front of the scared teen with fire in his claws. "Are you going to take back the Golem comment, or do I have to make you?" He then noticed something behind him but before he turned to see what it was he heard the sound of a sword slashing through something. "Well then, you might not be that bad."

"Thanks… I guess." Saito replied, panting. He had seen Guiche create a Valkyrie right behind Blaze and picked up the sword the earth mage had created and took it out with a horizontal slash before it struck. "You helped me back there, just returning the favor." He was just trying to look cool now but Falco appreciated it nonetheless.

"Now, then, what should I do with you?" He wondered aloud as he turned back to Guiche, Blaze was a foot taller than the blond mage so he was quite literally looking down on him.

"I yield!" The boy shouted, terrified and falling on his ass. "I'm sorry for calling you a Golem, please don't hurt me!" And he crawled away at a speed far superior than anyone could believe him capable of, hiding behind what he could find and trembling in fear.

"Yeah! And stay there!" He then turned to Saito who looked like he would pass out at any moment. "You alright?"

The black haired teen didn't respond, instead he fell forward, unconscious. He had taken quite a beating before Falco showed up and it finally caught up to him. Falco caught him as he fell, careful of not hurting him with his claws.

"You, the pinky!" He shouted, referring t Louise who was looking at him with astonishment painted all over her face. "You seem to be a friend of him, where can I drop him so he gets some rest."

It took a moment for Louise to understand she was being talked to, she had never been spoken to like that in her life, and even her new Familiar had been more respectful than this… Animtriex as he called himself.

"Who do you think you are, addressing me like that?!" She shouted at him and everyone close took a step back just in case the Bird like creature went on a rampage again, only those with a death wish would provoke such a creature.

"I already told you shorty, I'm Blaze Falco and this guy here, whose name I don't even know, needs a place to rest." He glared at her and she shivered but still managed to glare back. "So be a good little girl and show me where I can take him."

Despite grumbling a few curses under her breath due to the fire creature's behavior and language, Louise managed to stop herself from doing something that might earn her the same wrath Guiche felt a few seconds ago. She took a deep, calming breath and gestured for Blaze to follow her as she walked as fast as she could towards the dorm tower where her room was.

They both got into her room and Falco unceremoniously dropped the black haired teen on the king-sized bed without paying attention to the hiss Louise gave him for it. He then turned around, having folded his wings before entering the tower so that they wouldn't harm his movement, and sat on a chair, ready to patiently wait until the kid woke up.

That decision didn't really last long, because half an hour later the fire bird was already at the limits of his patience, he never had much of it anyway. He stood from the chair violently, startling Louise.

"Okay, that's it. DiDi, I know you're there in the TDC, wake the kid up. Shock him or whatever, I don't care how you do it!"

"Geez, Falco. Take a chill pill and sit back down." A female mechanical voice replied and Louise found herself looking around her room trying to find the source. "The kid took the beating of his life before you showed up, once his body is in an acceptable condition I'll wake him up, you wait until then."

Falco did as ordered, grumbling something about weaklings, and sat down on his chair looking at the ceiling and trying to think of something to keep his boredom from getting the best of him while Louise racked her brain for answers on who that voice belonged to until she decided to ask.

"Whose voice was that?" She asked the red armored creature sitting on one of her chairs. "There's no one else in the room."

"I'm only telling you it's not an evil ghost or anything of the sort." Falco replied with a bit of anger in his voice. "The rest comes when the kid wakes up."

Louise just glared at him but kept quiet, the last thing she needed was get in an argument with this being that could burn down her room by getting angry. She was about to ask another question when her door burst open letting a black haired girl dressed in a maid outfit enter the room hurriedly and dash to the bed's side.

"Saito!" The girl cried out as she approached the unconscious black haired teen. Once she had checked that he was merely unconscious she turned around and looked directly at Louise. "I apologize for entering you're room like I have Miss Vallière, I was merely worried about your Familiar."

"It is no problem Siesta." The pink haired girl replied, she couldn't really get mad at that.

"Good to see the kid has people looking after him." Falco commented from his chair while Louise came up with a reply for the maid, drawing both girl's attention and causing Siesta to look at where the creature was seating with her eyes wide in surprise as she took in his appearance. "Yo! Nice to meet you." Blaze raised his hand in greeting and then something in Siesta's mind just went blank and she fainted, leaving Louise and Falco looking at her with strange expressions on their faces.

"Great, now we have two comatose humans to deal with." The fire bird muttered as he picked up the maid and laid her by Saito. "With a bit of luck, DiDi will wake them both."

Not a second after he had said that, electricity coursed through Saito's body and the boy woke up with a cry, waking Siesta in the process, they both noticed they were sharing a bed and blushed, refusing to look at each other.

"You dog, come here this instant!" Louise ordered angrily to which Saito surprisingly complied, albeit reluctantly. "What were you thinking, fighting a noble. If that thing there hadn't intervened you would be dead!"

"I'm not a thing, dammit!" Falco shouted releasing a bit of fire in his anger. "I'm an Animtriex, for the love of all that is electronic, remember that!"

"Are… beings like Falco-san common around here, Louise?" Saito asked pointing at the fire creature and having a few suspicions about what he truly was.

"Hell if I know, I've never heard of an Anim-whatever in my life." The pinkette snapped while Siesta eyed Falco warily.

"If we aren't common we'll soon be." Blaze Falco muttered but no one seemed to hear him. "Anyway, explanation time." He directed a glare at Louise's door. "All of you people eavesdropping there, either you come in and show your faces or you go out in flames, choose!"

Under the astonished gaze of three teenagers, the door opened and four people let themselves in. The first was a red haired girl with tan skin and breasts the size of her head followed closely by a small bluenette with glasses. After them came in a blond girl with her hair looking like downward drills and dragging the terrified figure of Guiche de Gramont behind her.

"Why are you people spying on what's going on in my room?!" Louise asked red with anger.

"Oh, hush Vallière." The tan redhead, Kirche, waved her off dismissively, increasing the angered look on Louise's features. "Who wouldn't want to know what mister firebird there truly is." The bluenette, Tabitha, nodded in agreement as Kirche pointed at Falco. "Besides, I wanted to know how Darling was doing."

"Well I just came to thank you for teaching this guy a lesson." The blond girl, Montmorency, dropped Guiche on the floor. "But since I was already here I decided to join in."

"I-I-I was just dragged here!" Guiche collapsed to his knees in front of Falco. "Please don't kill me!" Falco just let out a sigh at his words.

"Fine. Gather around kids because we need the room." Everyone obeyed, taking their seats, Saito on the floor at Louise's order. "Well DiDi, your turn."

Just as Falco finished talking, Saito's new fashion accessory, the TDC, shone with bright white light that engulfed the room. Once they recovered from the temporary blindness Saito and the others found themselves in the middle of the sea of stars, outer space.

"What the…" The black haired teen began but Blaze interrupted him.

"Now, calm down. You're in the middle of a hologram." He noticed the blank stares from all the mages and the maid and sighed. "What I mean is it's just an image projected in your room, we haven't left it."

"So it's like an oversized crystal ball, huh?" Kirche muttered earning a nod from Tabitha that indicated that the bluenette thought the same thing.

"In a way." The same mechanical voice that had startle Louise before said surprising everyone except Falco. Noticing where it was coming from, Saito looked at his left wrist. "What you are seeing now is what lies beyond the skies of your world, more worlds. Each star is a world filled with life like your own."

"Get to the point DiDi, we don't have all day." Falco shouted exasperated.

"Shut it Falco, you wanted me to do the talking." The voice coming from the artifact attached to Saito replied. "Now, these people need to know so shut up, be good and let me do my job."

Falco grumbled something about defective AIs and being full of themselves because they had no bodies he could damage but then shut up and let the voice from Saito's newest fashion accessory do its job.

"Well then, where was I?" DiDi muttered in a deep in thought voice. "Oh, yeah. Well, as I was saying, there are thousands of other worlds out there, some have magic like you do, other are filled with weird creatures. Ever thought there could be bunny men? Well they exist out there on their world. But that's beside the point. You see, the Animtriex like Blaze Falco and TDCs like myself were created long ago on planet Zeta-01, the Animtriex are constructs creating through mixture of Alchemy, modern Technology and Magic. Also, don't call them Golems if you know what's good for you."

"Some got to experience that first hand." Falco looked at Guiche as he spoke and the blonde shuddered at the memory of the enraged creature slicing through his golems as if they were made out of butter and not bronze.

"But how come you and Falco-san are here?" Saito asked, out of all the people in the room he was the one that better understood what was going on, even if it sounded like the plot of a third rate anime. The others were still collecting their jaws from the floor, with the exception of Tabitha who had just raised her eyebrows.

"Things happened." Falco replied in a bored tone. "Long story short, the ruling body of Zeta-01 decided that to truly understand the worlds around us we should share our technology to bring them up to par with us so they started sending groups of Animtriex to the surrounding worlds. And here we are."

"Are there more like you on Tristain then?" Kirche asked, still digesting what had just been revealed.

"Probably. I honestly have no idea, they could have landed on the other countries." Falco replied scratching his head with one claw.

"There is a defective product stored here with me though." DiDi said from within the device on Saito's wrist. "The soul forming process failed and it's a blank slate, it's still in Egg form too."

"Great, a blank slate. Just what I need to round up my day." Falco muttered annoyed at the information.

"Do you think we should tell the Headmaster about all this?" Montmorency asked after a bit of thought. "I mean, if there are more like this guy around the teachers would be aware of it, wouldn't they?"

"That is a good idea, my dear Montmorency." Guiche tried to get the girl into a hug but she simply sidestep and the blond mage fell to the floor with a loud thud, earning him a sweatdrop from everyone present, even Falco. The device on Saito's wrist also sweatdropped to the astonishment of many.

Deciding to ignore the blond, the group of four mages, a Familiar and a maid made their way out followed by Blaze Falco and went to the Headmaster's office. Needless to say, Old Osmond and Professor Colbert nearly lost their jaws the moment Falco stepped into the room, they had been discussing the sketchy information they had about the duel that had taken place a few hours ago but they never expected the rumored creature to just come into the room like that.

"Well, Professor Colbert, I believe our most recent piece of news has just walked through our door." The Headmaster commented lightly as his light purple eyes were dead set on the Animtriex.

"So it would seem, Old Osmond." The bald professor replied as his eyes set on the many mechanical aspects of Blaze Falco, wondering who had managed such a construct and even managed to make it sentient. "What brings all of you here?"

Louise and the others explained what DiDi and Falco had told them, with both of them adding bits and pieces to help clarify. After the talk was through Old Osmond was looking at the device known as TDC that was attached to Saito's wrist with a pensive look while Colbert was off in his own world of mechanical wonders from outer space.

'I know I have seen more of those somewhere but I just cannot remember where or when.' The aged mage thought as he tried to scan for the memories but they seemed to be eluding him quite easily. 'At any rate, this is quite an interesting development, I wonder what the future holds for our country if more beings like this one start appearing throughout our lands.'

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And it's over, here's hoping you liked it. Please review as your thoughts on it are valued. Don't expect this one to update too soon as I'm quite occupied with college and my first story, Familiar of Zero - Eternal Hawk, so I'm pressed for time but count on a chapter to pop up from time to time.

P.S. Pairings are undecided as of yet.


	2. Chapter 2: The Bladed Lion, Derf-Leo

And I finally managed to update this one. Took me long enough, didn't it? Sorry about that, I was a bit blocked and really busy.

Anyway, let's get this underway, shall we? Thanks for being patient and not repeatedly ask when the next chapter would come out, I find that rather annoying and frustrating. Thanks to everyone that read, followed, favorited and or reviewed.

To the reviewers:

**brave kid**: I see no need to reply to the co-author here, or for him to review here. XD But I'm also glad we got it published, let's see where it leads.

**kid dnya**: Well, even if it took me long to write it, here it is. I hope you're still looking forward to it.

**PEJP Bengtzone V2**: Who knows? Maybe he will, maybe he won't. The Sentai style transformation will happen in the future, but there's a long way to go before we get to that.

**fan cam robo**: Here's more for you, enjoy it.

**KH-Hardcorefan4483**: Most, if not all, of the Animtriex will be heavily based on Megaman characters, which is why I used that image as cover. Blaze Falco is the main Animtriex, so to speak.

_Disclaimer_: I own nothing, not even the cover image but I hope I have premission to use it.

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**Chapter 2: The Bladed Lion, Derf-Leo**

To say Blaze Falco was frustrated would be like saying the sky was blue or the sun shiny. He'd woken up three days ago and he was already bored out of his mind and itching for a fight, but there was just no way of finding one. Adding to this was the fact that he had gotten partnered with a weakling, despite the strength the kid had shown at the last moment, and that weakling was bound by a Familiar contract of all things to a pink haired brat that had more similarities with a short fuse nuclear bomb than anything else he had found in the weapon database.

To top it all off, he had been busy trying to avoid the bald teacher who seemed way too inclined towards dissecting him and learning all he could about his inner workings, which was never a good idea, especially on a backwater planet without means of reparation if too much damage was incurred. And then, there was DiDi, who had not uttered a word ever since the day of their arrival.

So all in all, Falco was pissed and had no outlet for that rage since both the kid and the pinky had gone to town to get a weapon for Saito. It had been Blaze's suggestion that Saito got something to defend himself, he had not participated in any of the previous operations but, from what he knew, things always got nasty during the first year of Animtriex discovery so being prepared was a must.

The combat-type Animtriex sighed as he flew upwards and stood on top of the Central Tower, waiting for the return of his partner, and set his eyes on the road. Barely a minute had passed before he noticed the horses and supposed Wind Dragon coming towards the Academy and for some reason he felt there would be trouble.

As soon as he spotted Saito, Falco dived towards the ground at top speed and landed in front of the black haired boy, Iron Man style, leaving a small crater on the ground. Saito jumped back in surprise as did Louise and Kirche, Tabitha just looked curiously at the scene while Sylphid, her dragon, cooed.

"I've been waiting. So, what did you get?" Falco asked impatiently, looking at the sword that Saito now had strapped to his back, he noticed something off about it and activated the magic reading sensors he was equipped with. "Looking good, that sword on your back is quite the pick."

"It's just a rusty piece of junk." Louise muttered disheartened. Had Saito seen something she hadn't? "The rest were just way too expensive because, thanks to all the damage you caused when you burned down half of the Vestri Field, I barely had any money left to pay for it."

"If that rusty thing is so good, what can you say about this one?" Kirche said as she revealed a golden jeweled sword that looked like made by someone who had too many jewels in his hands. "It belonged to a famous Germanian general, so it should be far superior to what Vallière got."

"That… is only a giant piece of gold covered junk." Falco said after a quick look, not detecting anything especial in that blade, he took it from the stunned girl's hands and unsheathed it, scanning the edge. "It's not even sharpened. This is mere decoration, nothing more."

"What?" Kirche shouted, mouth hanging open while Louise sent her smirk, extremely pleased to see the Zerbst heir in such a state. "But it was forged by one of Germania's greatest alchemists and used by one of our most famous Generals."

"That sounds like a pretty cheap trick to sell something to me." Falco replied as he tossed her the sheathed blade, the girl caught it and fell on her butt. "By the way, when are you going to introduce yourself?"

"Oh, I wanted to keep it a secret for a bit longer." A voice no one recognized said mockingly. The four teenagers looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Ok, who is that?" Saito asked nervously and gripped the sword in his hands.

"Hey, careful with those hands." The voice said again mockingly, and now everyone realized it was the sword that talked. Saito yelped in shock and let the weapon fall to the ground. "Ouch! Partner, be more careful from now on."

"A… A talking sword?" Louise was dumbfounded, as was Kirche. Tabitha just looked at the scene for a second before shrugging and going back to her book.

"Hey, I'm unique, I know that." The sword replied as Saito took him back in his hands with a smile. "Well, Partner, what's your name?"

"I'm Saito." The boy replied, examining the weapon as if it was the first time he saw it. "Do you have a name?"

"I'm Derflinger, nice to meet you." The sword replied cheerfully. "Well, Saito, from now on you're my Partner, let's get along."

The black haired teen nodded in reply, smiling, while the rest of the group looked on. It didn't take long for them to decide it was time to go back to the dorm and get some rest. Kirche did attempt to drag Saito into her room with some help of her Salamander, but let's just say a certain easily irritable Animtriex was not too keen on letting that happen. Poor fire lizard, it would never look at a bird the same way again, not after what happened.

The days kept going by, and Falco found that he could enjoy himself from time to time by taking Saito with him to train the kid. At first the boy was reluctant, but when the Animtriex told him that it would be useful to put people like Guiche in their place without having to ask some weird robot from outer space, as he put it himself, Saito jumped at the chance. And although he would regret the times he almost got literally burnt, he would admit that he was getting better on using that sword of his, which wouldn't stop giving him pointers and advice much to Falco's annoyance.

"Will you stop telling him how to move every step of the way?" The irascible firebird shouted at the blade. "He has to learn how to move by reflex! To hone his instinct!"

"And how is he supposed to do that if he doesn't even know how to react yet?" Derflinger countered as Saito and Louise looked on with a sweat drop on their heads while munching some rice balls they had found lying around.t was the fifth time already those two had had that sort of conversation, and it always ended the same way. "Look Falco, I have no idea how old you are but I am way over the thousands. I have more experience than you do in teaching people how to use _me_."

"If you only had a body I could kick around in a fight, I would take you on right now!" The firebird spat in rage. "Fine, do what you want. If he gets killed because of that it's your problem." The Animtriex then walked away towards Master and Familiar. "Now then, where's my food?"

"Uhh." Both Louise and Saito mouthed after gulping the last piece of what had been Falco's precious food.

"You idiots!" The Animtriex shouted. "How in the world am I going to recharge now?!"

"You could ask Marteau, he would surely help you." The black haired teen suggested with a nervous smile, hoping the being would take his advice.

"I better go do just that before I show you why my development name was Solar Furnace Project." And with that, he flew off towards the kitchen.

"Even if he does seem a bit harsh, he's not a bad fellow." Derflinger muttered as Saito went to get him back.

"I know that, but you can't really relax while being around people who blow you up without reason or try to set you on fire daily." Saito whispered back without being heard by Louise.

"Point for you, Partner, point for you." The sword replied. "By the way, I haven't seen that maid who always comes around while you're training. Did something happen to her?"

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen Siesta-san either." Saito the turned around, looking at his Master. "Did you see her today, Louise-sama?"

"Why would I care about whether or not I saw some commoner girl?" The pinkette replied, huffing. "I have better things to do than look for that maid."

"Well, there goes that idea…" Derflinger sighed. "Should we ask around for her? Or..."

Poor Derflinger never finished that sentence as a red, black and silver blur landed in between them, wings fully extended to cushion the fall although the crater left on the ground was remarkably bigger than the one he had left a few days ago when they came back with the blade.

"Alright kid, move it." Falco commanded authoritatively. "We're leaving."

"Where are we going?" Saito asked as the Animtriex started dragging him towards the main gate, ignoring Louise's protests.

"That maid has been bought." The firebird replied with literal fire in his eyes. "By some guy named Mott, or whatever."

"Oh, no. Now I have to make sure you're not leaving!" Louise shouted as she ran after them. "You can't do anything about that, Nobles can buy commoners as long as they have permission from the Palace. The Headmaster wouldn't have allowed it if it wasn't the case."

"Alright, now give me a good reason for me not to go there and burn the guy to cinders." The flame creature turned around, letting go of her Familiar. If Falco had to pick one thing he hated above all else, slavery and human trading would take the spot, even if they were two things.

"That man is Royal Messenger of the Palace. He's a mage, far stronger than Guiche." She punctuated, knowing that Falco had beaten up the blond mage with hardly any effort. "He's a water mage of all things, do you really think you can beat him with fire?! And even if you could, that would be a crime. I could get disinherited for your actions!"

"But we have to help Siesta-san!" Saito intervened to Louise's chagrin.

"You shut up, dog!" The girl replied in anger and fear of the embarrassment she and her family would be put through if those two fools got away. "You two aren't going anywhere and that's final!"

"Oh, really?" Saito cringed in fear at the tone Falco was using, he knew something bad was going to happen, probably to him. "Just watch me."

And after that simple statement, the Animtriex moved faster than anyone could have predicted, grabbed the black haired teen and shot upwards like a bullet. Once in the air, he opened his wings and flew in the direction of Count Mott's mansion, dragging a crying Saito along with him as Derflinger shouted how fun it was. Louise could only gape at what had happened and run to the stables, hoping that a horse would actually be enough to catch up to the firebird's flight speed. Not that she held much hope on the matter, but not trying would surely end in a disaster.

"Do you even know where you're going?!" Saito shouted as he tried not to look down. "I don't want to stay here longer than I need to!"

"Shut up and let me concentrate, will you?" The Animtriex would never admit it, but he had made a pretty big mistake rushing like that and not even knowing where to go.

"Geez, I always have to help you get everything done." DiDi replied from the TDC. "Here, I'm sending you where you need to go."

"So that's what you were doing…" Falco replied as he changed course. "No wonder you were so quiet lately, you were running a full planet scan before everyone else woke up."

"Yup, and I know exactly where everything is on this planet, with the exception of the other Animtriex cores, since that would be cheating and could cause trouble." The A.I. explained. "Whenever you need to go somewhere, just ask. It's not that hard to do it nicely, by the way."

"Wait, what did you mean by cheating?" Saito asked, trying to get his mind off his current predicament.

"You see, the thing is there's bound to be a bad guy or two who get their hands on an Animtriex or a TDC, or both." DiDi started. "That's why, to prevent them from finding more cores, the TDC can't locate the others no matter what they do."

"Your method is sounding more and more ineffective with every new explanation." The teen replied, getting a chuckle from Falco.

"Blame the guys ruling Zeta-01 and their ideas, we're just the result of that." The firebird told him.

After a while of not being able to get his feet on the ground, Saito took a deep breath when they finally landed outside Mott's Mansion. The team of human and Animtriex looked over the building, taking in how richly designed it was, before moving out towards it on foot.

"Do you remember what you need to do?" Falco asked, he had made a fast plan on the fly, literally.

"You start blowing things up and catch their attention, then I get in there, find Siesta-san, and get the hell out of there." Saito recited, he had gone over it in his mind repeatedly as they traveled. "I think I can do that."

"If anyone gets in your way, remember I am here." Derflinger told him from his sheath. "I wouldn't want to be useless on Partner's first battle."

After the boy nodded in reply, Falco sped up, igniting himself on fire and charging right through the gate as if he were a missile, explosion included. The gat was blown to smithereens and the guards started sounding the alarm and shouting about monsters and weird fire golems, poor guys didn't know what hit them.

Meanwhile, Saito had run inside the mansion in the confusion. The hallways were in chaos as guard after guard ran outside to meet with the berserker firebird literally burning his way through the place, although Falco was making a point of leaving each and every one of them alive.

"Saito!" Siesta's voice caught the Japanese boy by surprise, especially when she jumped on him and got him into a hug. "What are you and Blaze Falco doing here?"

"We came to get you out of here." The boy replied, trying to ignore the scandalous maid outfit she had been forced to wear. "Come on, let's go." He took her hand and pulled, bringing her along as he ran.

"But if you do that, you'll be in trouble!" The maid told him, although she made no effort to make him let go. "Count Mott will not forgive that!"

"Like I care!" Saito shouted in reply. "What matters is getting you out of here and back to the Academy. Or are you going to tell me you want to stay?"

"No, I don't want to stay! That's the last thing want!" The maid cried as she told him that.

"Then I'm doing the right thing." The Japanese teen told himself only for their path to be blocked by a wall of water.

"I should have expected something like this, but to think the one thing you people want to take away would be my new toy." A fat man in a ridiculously elaborate outfit said as he came in from behind them. "Now, boy. Who are you?"

"No one you need to know about!" Saito replied, unsheathing Derflinger and walking in front of Siesta in a protective gesture.

"Oh, well." The noble waved his scepter, creating a huge number of ice spikes out of thin air. "I'll just as your body once I'm done with you."

As much training as Falco could have put him through would not have prepared Saito for that onslaught of projectiles, it was a miracle he was deflecting them as well as he was and he even allowed himself a moment of hope when the fat Count ran out of things to throw at him, but t was short lived. After mumbling for a few seconds, a massive hammer of water was created from the wall barring their path.

Saito moved instinctively and blocked the strike, for a moment it seemed like he was doing it right, but the sickening sound of metal being bent followed by the final breaking of his sword told them otherwise and the impact sent both boy and girl to the side. Derflinger didn't say a word, not that he could.

"And now, what do you intend to do?" Mott asked as he walked towards them.

"Stop, Count Mott!" Louise shouted as she arrived at the scene. "I'll take full responsibility for my Familiar's actions but…" She was interrupted by the man's sinister laugh.

"Oh, that is just perfect!" The Royal Messenger smiled. "Finally, an excuse to get the duke and duchess off my case. Thank you dear, you've been a great help."

"But that's not…"

"You know, in all my long life, the one thing I have always have were slimy politicians." Derflinger's voice echoed over the place. "And you know? I never could do anything to them because, well, a sword can't move on its own, unfortunately."

Blinding white light came out of the TDC on Saito's wrist, blinding everyone around him. In the meantime, a new body appeared out of nowhere. A golden body with a lion's face for chest, metallic limbs that resembled a combination of humanoid and feline ones. The legs were also bladed on the sides and there were three long claws on each forearm, ready to rip something apart.

"I'm pretty glad that has changed." Derflinger stated in his new body as he smiled, red eyes flashing and his mouth showing elongated canines.

"What can a creature like you do?" Mott asked, unleashing a simple spell at him, only for it to be absorbed by Derflinger's unlocked secret ability.

"My poor old form was weakened and couldn't access this power without Partner's help, but now I can take as much magic as you can throw at me." Derflinger explained confidently.

"Preposterous!" The Count tried again, over and over, but to no avail. Whatever magic he unleashed was absorbed by the metallic feline. "Very well, however…" He shot a spell at the now unprotected Saito and Siesta.

"Partner, catch me!" Derflinger shouted before shining brightly and literally flying towards Saito's hand.

The Japanese teen caught him and immediately felt himself powered while the Runes in his hand shone brightly. He swung his arm upwards, unleashing a golden half-moon of light the evaporated Mott's spell and missed the count by less than a hair.

"What is this?" Louise asked herself as the weapon in Saito's hand, an ample broadsword with a lion face decorating its hilt pulsed repeatedly with golden sparks.

"Sword of the Beast King mode." Derflinger explained, moving the lion mouth as he did. "This body is certainly a nice change, I can even be a sword again whenever I want!"

"You'll need a new name after that, Derflinger just doesn't cut it anymore." Blaze Falco stated as he walked towards them.

"That joke was awful." DiDi chastised, but the firebird waved her off.

"From now on I'm Derf-Leo, nice to meet you all." The sword stated happily. "Now, where were we?"

Everyone looked at Mott's… unconscious figure. The Count had passed out after Saito's attack, although the poor boy didn't look like he would last much longer, the move had taken a lot out of him.

"And how exactly are we going to explain this when Count Mott presses charges?!" Louise shouted enraged.

"That won't be necessary, actually." Falco replied, waving a paper in his hands. "Turns out this guy's as corrupt as they get. So with this bit of evidence I have gathered we can make sure no one will even think about listening to what he has to say."

"For an impulsive guy like you, that was pretty well thought out." DiDi complimented, earning a grunt from the firebird.

"Then we're leaving, right?" Saito muttered weakly. "Good, because…" He couldn't continue and fell forward, unconscious, and let go of the blade.

"I guess I'll fly him back, he still has a long way to go before he can be useful on a real battlefield but he'll get there." The fire Animtriex commented as he picked the Japanese teen from the ground. "Come on, Derf-Leo, we're leaving. Change back to something that can walk."

"Uhm… I still don't know how to do that." The sword replied in embarrassment, making everyone around him sweat drop.

"You people are much more trouble than you're worth." Falco sighed in annoyance as he picked up the sword and magnetized it to his back. "Anyone else wants to jump on the Falco Express?!"

"No, thanks." Both girls replied, shaking their heads before Falco gave Louise the information he had found.

"Alright then, when you get back go straight to your room pinky, the kid will be on the bed if he still hasn't woken up."

And with that, the firebird flew upwards, through the various floors and ceiling, and then set a course for the Academy. The two girls did not waste any more time and got to Louise's horse, the ride back to the Academy was going to be a long one but at least no problem would arise from this incident so long as the evidence reached the Palace before Mott did. And considering his current state, Louise had a bit of an advantage.

"This is the last time I let that featherhead order me around." The pinkette muttered as she directed the horse down the road. Unaware of the two black clad figures eyeing them from a distance.

* * *

And with that, the chapter's over. I seriously have no idea about when I'll have the next one ready, but I'll try to be a little faster next time. Hope you liked it and please review.


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